BloggingRef's officiating blog. Contains a journal of his basketball season, as well as his views on general officiating topics as they arise.
Updated frequently during the HS basketball season, sporadically outside of it.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

ESPN's Olney criticizes Froemming's reported selection for World Series

Word is that Bruce Froemming, nearing the end of his 37-year career, is in line to call Games 1 and 7 of the World Series and serve as the crew chief. Froemming has had an amazing career and likely will be inducted into the Hall of Fame one day, but the bottom line is that he is not close to being the best umpire in the game these days...

He shouldn't be getting this responsibility, for the same basic reason that Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and Charles Barkley no longer are selected for the Olympic basketball team: Although they might have been the best at one time, they are no longer the best...This has been a summer of love for the longtime umpire, who was given a gracious and well-earned sendoff in cities around the sport. But the World Series is the sport's most competitive and most watched event, and lining up Froemming to have this responsibility is not fair to the teams, to the players, to his more qualified peers or to Froemming.

I thought that World Series umpires, like Super Bowl officials, were chosen based on a scoring system. Does anyone who knows more than I do have any input here?

I respect the hell out of Froemming, but I don't believe that a championship assignment should be used as a gold watch.